Maggie's Story
by Litty Poo
Summary: A fifth year girl makes her way around Hogwarts.
1. Last Day of Summer

**Chapter One**

_Swoosh _went the Quaffle as it spun straight through the goal post hoop. After going through the hoop it fell and flumped, lifeless, onto the cool grass below.

"Yes! I am totally going to whip your ass in Quidditch this year," said Maggie, tilting her broom toward the ground so she landed swiftly on the grass with a tiny thump.

"That is, if you make it on the team…" said her friend, Ebony, also coming down to the ground with a sound a little louder than a thump.

It was a cool, crisp day on the outskirts of London, at least for summer. Normally it would be hot, but the two girls had taken advantage of the nice weather and decided to go out to their makeshift Quidditch field out in the meadow near the tiny wizarding village they lived in. They had made the six hoops out of spare hool-a-hoops they found in a Muggle dumpster on one of their occasional visits to London.

"Who says I won't make it on the team this year?" said Maggie indignantly, picking up the dropped Quaffle. She never liked it when other people tried to discourage her from doing something she knew so well that she could do. She had tried out for the Gryffindor Quidditch team every chance she got. She had claimed she almost made it on, but never quite seemed to get close. She said the competition was too tough, which might be true considering Harry Potter was in her house and played Seeker. He was a tall, skinny, green-eyed fifth year, the first Quidditch player in a century to join the team as a first year.

"Well, the chances aren't all that high. You know what I mean?" replied Ebony truthfully as they began to trudge through the high grass toward home. "Besides, the only opening they're going to have is a Keeper since Wood is gone, and you've never played that position before."

Maggie scowled and didn't reply. Ebony always knew everything. Ebony always said it right. But Maggie didn't want to face the facts.

"I'll race you!" Maggie smirked and took off running through the grass. She had to get her mind off Quidditch for a little while.

"Wait stop! You know I can't run!" Ebony shouted as she started to sprint after Maggie.

She was no match for Maggie when it came to running. Maggie was born strong, especially in her legs. She was a tall, slender girl with wild brown hair she always kept tied up. She was a girl of adventure, of bravery. She liked moving places and could hardly be kept still. That is why she liked Quidditch so much. She hated it when she had to stay trapped in a classroom. She loved the feel of the wind in her face, of the spectacular freedoms flying in the air brought to you.

"Stop! Stop! I'm getting out of breath!" Ebony panted, stopping to clutch her side in agony.

Maggie paused and turned around, smiling maliciously. She was just going to turn back around when her foot caught on a stump and she went crashing to the ground. She didn't get back up.

"Maggie! Are you all right?" Ebony shrieked and, despite her tiredness, she dashed over to where Maggie had fallen. When she reached her, she found her laying quite still, her eyes closed. "Maggie? Come on." She bent down and nudged her shoulder. "Get up." Maggie didn't move. She didn't even flinch. "That wasn't even a very big fall. Come on, this isn't funny." When Maggie still didn't twitch, Ebony started to panic. "Come on! Don't do this to me!" She pushed her harder and harder so her head bobbled around and around on the dirty ground.

Ebony stood up quickly, in a panic. She looked around the vacant field for somebody. All she saw was tall, blowing grass and a few houses off way in the distance. "Somebody! Help!" she shouted loud so somebody might hear. All she heard in reply was the whistling of the wind.

But suddenly, she felt something cold grip her ankles. Before she could look down to see what it was, the cold force had yanked her back and she flopped backward with the tall grass as a cushion.

Maggie was laughing. "I totally had you there!" She shot up from the ground and took off again down the field.

"I'm going to get you! How dare you do that to me!" Ebony shrieked and chased her through the blowing grass. She had completely forgotten about her tiredness. She only wanted revenge.

The two girls ran and ran all the way toward the village. The sun was just setting and the air around them was orange and fresh, buzzing with evening life. And they had forgotten all their troubles. They were just two little girls again, playing under the sun. They were no longer the big fifteen year olds they really were, with all their worries and uncertainties. They were happy again.

As they neared the end of the field, right where the tall grass ended and the mowed lawns began, they flopped down together and panted and laughed. It was a while before they finally came back to their senses.

"Too bad we have to go back to school tomorrow," said Ebony, her smile suddenly fading.

Maggie bent a tall strand of grass to the shape of a Quidditch post and smiled wider. "Don't think about school. Think about Quidditch season and the big victory Gryffindor has in store for itself." She sighed deeply and Ebony threw a tiny stone through the loop.

"Yeah, I suppose that's a good way to think of it—"

"Margaret!" It was a piercing cry. It came all the way from the window of the house just facing the field, Maggie's home.

"Oh great," Maggie groaned, flinging the tall grass up. "Mother."

Maggie pulled herself to her feet regretfully, so did Ebony.

"I guess this will end our last practice session at home. Want to go to the station together in the morning?" Maggie asked.

"I'm not sure. My mum and I were going to take the Muggle car this time. Do you want to go with us?"

"Maybe. My mother doesn't especially like me associating with Muggle 'items', or Muggles. She says London is a dodgy place."

"Oh well then…send me Chester telling me what you're going to do." Chester was Maggie's tiny little screech owl. He was a quick messenger.

"Margaret! Get in here!" came her mother's voice, louder this time.

"See you in the morning, Ebony." They hugged a sisterly hug and separated.

"Coming Mother!" Maggie took off through her back yard and threw the Quaffle and old Cleansweep Seven onto the ground near the side of the house. She entered through the screen door where her mother stood, hands on hips.

"I thought I told you to be home by six!" said her mother furiously. She was a skinny woman, with long straight blond hair. She would look young if her face wasn't always contorted into such a mad and angry glare all the time. Maybe it wasn't all the time like that, but Maggie only got to see it when it was. Her mother hated her.

She felt the hate floating through the air like smog between her mother and herself. It was a thick fog that could not be blown away or shown through even with the brightest of lights. "And what time is it now?" said Maggie, voice dripping with dislike.

"Eight thirty!" shrieked her mother, pointing at the old wizarding clock accusingly. "Your father and I were getting worried—"

"Daddy's home!" Maggie cried, her face suddenly alighting with joy.

"—and you missed dinner!"

Maggie didn't even listen to the rest she had to say. She took off, nudging her mother out of her way and dashing to the living room where her father was sitting at his desk, bent over a mountain of papers.

"Daddy! You're finally home!" She rushed over and wrapped her bony arms around her father. He was still wearing his Ministry robes. They were caked with dirt and ripped in numerous places.

"Maggie…" Her father turned around to return her hug. "I missed you so much."

They embraced, saying nothing for quite a long while. Maggie took in the smell of her father, of his dirty robes and coffee stench.

Finally, they pulled away and Maggie looked deep into her father's face. His eyes were tired. They had dark circles under them. He looked tired and hungry and weak and exhausted. Maggie frowned. It was not like him to look so dispirited.

"What's wrong?" Maggie said, deeply concerned.

Her father turned away to look at the map he had in front of him. "Oh nothing. Just reading makes me tired, that's all."

"Walter! You have to do something about that child! She has been out all day and she didn't get home until two and half hours after I told her to." Her mother walked in. Her face was withering and twisting in that evil way it did when she was mad.

Walter sighed deeply and leaned back in his chair, rubbing his tired eyes. "Maggie…" he began slowly. "You know your mother wants you inside by—"

"It's not my fault!" Maggie cried out indignantly. "We didn't have a watch!"

"And whose fault was it that you didn't have a watch?" Walter said cleverly, kindness flooding his weary face.

"I—I don't know…" Maggie almost smiled, but then remembered she was trying to defend herself. "You don't understand! Ebony and I are practicing for Quidditch season! It's a big thing at Hogwarts, you know? If I don't make it on the team this year I may never make it on!"

"Don't say that, sweetheart. You'll still have two more years after this one."

Maggie shook her head and turned away from her father furiously. "You don't understand. No one understands me!" She could feel the tears coming. Now even her father didn't think she could make it this year. It felt like the whole world was just beating her down. "Good night!" She stormed away past her mother, trying not to let anyone see her face, which was turning redder with each passing moment.

"Wait! Maggie! Don't leave like this!" she heard her father's exhausted voice call out. "You must have misunderstood me!"

"Your father says get back here young lady!" came her mother's voice, which was louder and screech-like.

"No!" And she dashed up the stairs. At the top she paused to listen.

"I'll be glad when she goes off to school. It's too hard to deal with her." That was definitely her mother's voice. She listened for her father's reply. Nothing came. He wasn't even going to defend her!

"I heard that!" Maggie shouted from up the stairs. "I know you hate me Mother! You don't have to shout it to the whole world! And I hate you too!" She could no longer stop the words from coming out of her mouth. It felt like the whole world was just toppling down again.

Sobbing, she dashed down the hall to her lonely room at the end of the hall. Halfway there she ran into her yipping younger sister, Emily.

"What happened this time?" she said with a tormenting grin, blocking her way.

"Move, twit!" Maggie shoved her out of the way with such force she banged against the wall with a loud thud.

"Ouch!" she cried. "Mummy!" She ran away down the stairs, crying.

Maggie was finally satisfied. Huffing, she stomped into her room and slammed the door. A Quidditch picture she had hanging on the wall nearby swung dangerously on its hinges. Swiftly, she made her way across the room and brought up the blinds with a loud snap. Orangish pink sunlight showed through to every corner of her room it could reach. She looked out at the field that her window faced. She often looked that way when she had to think.

She took a deep breath. When she finally had the chance to analyze the situation, she couldn't really figure out why she was so mad at her father. He had only said one little thing. One little thing to set her off like a firecracker. It was her mother's constant nagging, her feelings of loneliness, stresses of school coming, of possible Quidditch try-outs, of summer coming to an end. All the things were coming so fast, she had hardly any chance to sit and relish what joys and relaxations she had left. Today was the end of long afternoons in the field with Ebony, of homework-less evenings, of seeing her father even for one night.

Tomorrow she was leaving for Hogwarts and wouldn't be returning home for at least three months, and that was only for Christmas. Her father might not even be home then either. She wouldn't mind being away from her mother for a long time, but her father she rarely got to see. He worked for the Ministry as an Auror, a very respected Auror at that. He was called on missions right and left. Rarely ever did he stay at home for more than two nights. Maggie respected his job and thought him brave for it, but really she'd have much liked it if he could have just been a Ministry official working in a tiny cubicle like Ebony's father did. Ebony got to see her father every night.

There was a knocking at the door that startled her from her thoughts. "What is it?" she yelled, turning away from the window to look at her door. The doorknob turned and the door squeaked open.

"It's your father. I just want to talk to you." His head appeared timidly through the door. He was a somewhat tall man of confident posture and strength. He had brown hair that always seemed out of place and a whiskery face that never got smooth. When Maggie was a little girl she liked to touch his chin and rub her little fingers across it. She was a girl who was always fascinated about everything.

Maggie sighed and replied, "Fine. Come in." She felt like apologizing right that instant. The outburst had been completely unprecedented. But her pride held her back. "What do you want?" she said forcefully, crossing her arms as he made his way in.

"I just want to say sorry for whatever I said that made you upset." Despite the tough man being an Auror made him, he was very timid and passive.

"That's great." She swung around to face the window again. She longed to hug him, but it wasn't the right moment. She didn't feel like letting anyone off that quickly.

"Maggie, can't you just be nicer to your father." She hated it when he talked about himself in third person. "I know you don't get to see me very often, but now here I am and you push me away."

Maggie didn't reply. She felt a lump forming in her throat like a giant rock.

"Fine. You don't want to say anything. Perhaps you'll be better in the morning." He sighed and turned around to walk out.

Maggie waited a few moments before finally turning around. "Wait! Dad!"

There was no reply. He had already left.

Angrily, she stormed to her desk and picked up her wand furiously. She waved it in the air and thought about a dangerous spell she could do to smash something. But just as the words were about to come out of her mouth she remembered that no magic from underage wizards was allowed outside of school. She cursed and threw the useless wand on her carpeted floor, then fell on her bed and threw her face in her pillow, frustrated and alone.


	2. A Hasty Departure

Chapter Two 

"Wake up! Now! You're going to be late!"

Maggie turned over in her bed. Her left cheek was wet with slobber from keeping her mouth open while she slept. "What is it?"

Her mother was standing over her, hands on hips. She was wearing a dirty white apron and a red dress with little white flowers all over it. She was holding her wand, with which she swished in the air and the sheets beneath Maggie lifted up, and she went crashing to the floor.

"Ouch! Jeez!"

"You have one hour before the train leaves. Your brother and sister are already ready! I tried to wake you up two hours ago, but you wouldn't budge!" She looked down at Maggie with a disgusted look on her face. "And did you sleep in your day clothes again?"

"Mother, it doesn't matter." Maggie said, standing up and looking about the room for her trunk. She saw it in the corner, open with clothes hanging out. She rushed over and stuffed the clothes in. "I'm ready to go."

"Aren't you going to change out of the clothes you wore yesterday?"

"Ugh," Maggie sighed. "All right. At least leave the room. I'll be down in a second."

When Maggie arrived downstairs she saw her mother dressed and ready in her traveling plaid shawl and her older brother Travis and younger sister Emily ready and waiting in their Muggle attire so as to not attract attention at the station. Travis was a tall boy, skinny, gangly, and somewhat awkward looking. He had slick blond hair, which resembled his mother's in color and texture. His hair contrasted noticeably with the black pants and black sweater he was wearing. He stood slouched and staring at the ground, looking bored and apathetic. He rarely ever said anything and no one expected him to. He seemed to appreciate that. Maggie hardly ever saw him because he was shut up in his room most of the time and when they were at school he was in a different house with a whole different common room, and he was in his seventh and last year.

Emily was short, cutesy, and very bouncy, the exact opposite of her older brother. She was in her third year, and seemed to think she knew Hogwarts better than anyone else. Really though she was trapped in her own little bubble of gossip and crushes. Academics were not important to her. She barely slid by in her first and second year, but somehow managed to make it to third. She was the most popular girl in the third year, though, despite her lack of brain cells and Maggie resented her for that. She had to spend every waking minute watching her little sister blabber away to a bunch of her girly friends. Emily was in the Gryffindor house as well, with Maggie who wished more than anything she could have been put in Hufflepuff. Hufflepuffs lack any talent what so ever. Maggie didn't understand how Emily could be considered brave, which was the main quality for a Gryffindor. At least, Maggie thought, she could have been put in Slytherin because she was so mean and snobbish all the time. Sometimes Maggie thought the sorting hat put her in Gryffindor just to torture her.

"Is that what you're wearing to the station?" Emily asked snottily after scanning Maggie's attire with her scrutinizing gaze.

Maggie flashed a vicious glare then glanced at her torn jeans and raggedy tank top. "Yes," she said icily.

"The Muggles are going to stare."

"And do I care?"

"You should. You're going to attract unnecessary attention to our family."

"You're going to attract unnecessary attention with that horrendous pink skirt," she shot back.

Emily scowled and felt the skirt in her fingers. "It's only the best of Muggle fashion. I've been researching it all summer."

Maggie looked at it disgustedly, and then turned away to heave up her trunk. "You know what, Emily? You need to get a life."

"What? You're the one who needs to get a life! You're stuck in your stupid Quidditch dreamland all the time. And what do you have, like one friend?"

"That's all I need," she said, finishing off the argument and starting to head toward the door, hauling her trunk.

But Emily didn't see an end. "You're an outcast, Maggie. Nobody wants to be your friend at school."

"I'm not listening," Maggie chimed. She was used to blocking out her sister's insistent taunting of her social situation.

Once she stepped outside, an impenetrable gloom seemed to fall on her shoulders. That would be the last time she would go through that door for months. She was going to back to school. The reality of it all suddenly hit her with full-blown force and she halted, trunk and all. Summer was over, and there was nothing she could do about it.

She felt cold fingers touch her shoulder, made bare by her sleeveless shirt. "Maggie, don't delay. Get in the car," her mother said authoritatively, walking past her.

"Yeah, Maggie, get in the car," said Emily in a sing-songy voice, skipping past to leap in the front seat.

Maggie rolled her eyes. At least the end of summer meant the end of her mother too, but she still had to deal with her sister. Maggie heaved the trunk forward along the stone pathway to the driveway toward the car.

"I thought we weren't taking a Muggle vehicle," Maggie said, looking at the gleaming car that reflected the August sun in its spotless windows.

"We're late. I had your father send over a new flying Ministry vehicle from his work so we could get to the station quicker. It's much easier than Floo Powder or a port key, as much as I hate it. Apparation is way too difficult with all this luggage."

Maggie suddenly remembered how she was supposed to send Chester a message to Ebony on whether she could go with her or not. And in remembering that, she remembered she forgot Chester in her room. "I'll be right back!" she shrieked, dropping the trunk on the walkway with a smack. "I forgot Chester!"

She dashed past Travis, who was starting to close the door, and up the stairs and down the hall to her room. There she found her little owl Chester hooting sadly in his cage that sat on her messy desk. Chester was a little, tawny owl with a cute yellow beak. He always wanted to do his job and he loved Maggie immensely. Maggie couldn't imagine having forgotten him. Chester would hate her forever.

"Here we go, little guy. Don't worry. I would never forget you." Just after she had snatched the cage up, her eye caught a movement on the desk just inches from where the cage had been. She glanced down. She saw herself in a picture, as a young girl with a cute brown ponytail. She was waving and laughing. Her father sat beside her, his arm around her shoulders. His face looked happy and full of energy, exactly the opposite of the way it had been last night. Attached to the picture was a note:

_Maggie, _

_Please forgive me for anything I said. I know you are prone to outbursts, just as I am, and I'm sure you didn't mean anything by that. I know you'll make it onto the Quidditch team. I wish you good luck in your new term at Hogwarts and I apologize for not being there to hug you goodbye. Please at least try a little bit in your studies. I'll see you at Christmas break. Send Chester if you want to talk._

_Dad_

Maggie smiled and clutched the note in her fingers lovingly. Her father loved her. He was the only one.

"Maggie, get down here now!" she heard Emily shriek in her annoying voice.

"I'm coming!" She heard a honk from the car outside, her mother impatiently waiting in the driver's seat. Carefully, she folded up the note and the picture, slipped them into her pocket, picked up Chester, gave one last longing look at her room, and dashed away downstairs. She pushed past her little sister to get outside and heaved the trunk up again. She dragged it to the car and threw it into the trunk. Then she jumped in the car and they zoomed away down lonely Pomfrey Lane.

Once they reached a long stretch of street, her mother turned on invisible mode and they shot up into the air. Her mother was a rather reckless driver, so Maggie was relieved to be in the air where the likelihood of running into something or someone was slimmer.

"We have very little time to get to the station. And I have to park. Those damn Muggle parking lots. I don't understand their stupid organizational systems. And then you have to walk so far. We are never going to make it on time." She was basically blabbering to herself. "Maggie!" This sort of ranting always turned to the topic of her. "If you hadn't woken up so late we could have been there with much less hassle. We wouldn't have to take this stupid car, and I wouldn't have to park it!"

Maggie ignored her and looked out the window and down to where the city of London was bustling and moving. Out of all the people down below, at least one of them must be happy. There was no way everyone could be feeling sad. Although, there must be a lot of people down below going back to school, whether they be Muggles or magic folk. Maggie told herself she shouldn't be feeling too bad. She had lots of things to look forward to, like the start of a new Quidditch season with new opportunities and new chances. And also the start of delicious food, as her mother's cooking was horrendous. But the number one thing would be she wouldn't see her mother until Christmas. That would be great.

But with that came other things to dread, such as Professor Snape. He would really get on her nerves. He wasn't quite as bad as her mother, but that was only because all she had was Potions class with him and the occasional encounter in the corridor. Professor Snape was a slimy grease ball of black hair and a face so pale and straight it would scare even the bravest of people.

And then there was the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. They seemed to get a new one every year. She had heard nothing about this new one yet. Her father didn't help at all to satisfy her curiosity. He said it would be better for her if she waited to find out when all the other students did. Maggie sort of hoped he would be young, and perhaps attractive.

"I'm going to miss you, Mumsy, while I'm at school," Emily said sweetly from the front seat.

Maggie snorted. Emily loved leaving home. She especially loved being away from her mother's annoyingly watchful eye.

"I'll miss you too, sweetie," replied her mother, evidentially not hearing Maggie's snort. "And Travis, I want you to finish off your Hogwarts career with a bang, all right? Make Professor Snape proud like you have been doing the past six years."

Snape was Head of Slytherin. Travis had been top in his class all through his six years so far, something their mother was tremendously proud of. Travis just mumbled incomprehensively at the praise he received.

"And Margaret," Maggie winced at the use of her full name. "I don't want another letter from your Head of House…what's her name again?"

"Professor McGonagall." Her mother refused to remember her name.

"Right, from McGonagall, about your academic performance or I'll just have to make _sure_ you don't get on the Quidditch team."

"Mother, Emily's worse off than me."

"No I'm not!" Emily chimed.

"_Yes_ you are."

"_No_ I'm not!"

"_Yes _you—"

"Margaret! Quit pestering your sister!" her mother butt in. "And besides, _she's_ not attempting to get the Quidditch team."

"Oh no, but she's off doing something much worse," Maggie said slyly.

"Shut up or I'll rip your head off!" Emily screamed.

"I highly doubt you know the spell to do it!"

"All right! Quiet you two!" hollered their mother. The car suddenly plunged downward and Maggie's stomach jumped up to her throat.

She was used to it from Quidditch, but Emily cried out, "Don't do that Mummy!"

"I have to if we want to get down the station! I almost missed it with your bickering!"

Quickly, the car made a rough landing onto the street below and the invisible shield was turned off once out of sight of any Muggles. The car pulled down the street slowly and squeezed into a parking lot near the station that was crammed with little cars. Her mother took her foot off the brake pedal before shifting gears and the car rolled forward slightly, crashing into the car positioned opposite in the lot.

"Damn Muggle contraptions," she said, slamming on the brakes, shifting gears, and then leaping out of the car.

"_Reparo_!" she said and the dent in the car inflated to the way it was before, shiny and neat.

Maggie jumped out of the car and grabbed Chester, who was sitting beside her in his cage, chirping wildly with excitement. Then she went to the back and heaved her trunk out.

"Mummy, could you carry one of my trunks?" Emily said, attempting to lift her trunk out with her skinny arms.

"You brought two trunks?" Maggie said disgustedly.

"There's going to be dances, don't you know?"

"Margaret, carry one of Emily's trunks. Emily, carry her owl," their mother said, rushing over and lifting the smaller of Emily's trunks.

"It's not 'my owl', it's Chester," Maggie corrected.

"Hurry up." Her mother nudged her toward the trunk. "The train leaves in five minutes and we still have to work our way through all these Muggles."

"Why doesn't Travis carry it? He's a boy." Maggie looked up the lot to where Travis had already left, walking rather slowly, head to the ground rolling his trunk behind him.

"Travis is a Prefect and has his duties."

Maggie moaned and hauled up the second trunk with her free hand. Luckily this one had wheels on it and soon the three of them were headed off and into the station, Maggie in the most discomfort with two trunks. Emily was playing with Chester by sticking her finger in the cage and cooing loudly. Muggles rushing by stared at Emily as if it were weird that a person would keep an owl in a cage as a pet. "Quit it Emily. Chester doesn't like people sticking their fingers in his cage." Chester was biting her fingers with his tiny beak and she was thinking it was kisses.

"All right, let's wait back here while those people go through the wall," their mother said glancing at her watch apprehensively. They paused a little ways back from the wall that led to Platform Nine and Three Quarters. A large group of people was headed through the wall. About half of them were red heads and they had a large black dog with them. They looked like a rather odd group. In the middle of the group, standing closest to the black dog was a tall boy with ruffled black hair. Maggie's eyes watched him until he disappeared through the wall. The rest of the group quickly followed until they were gone.

"Come on!" called her mother, rushing forward. Maggie blinked and heaved the trunks onward.

When they appeared on the other side of the wall they were in chaos. White smoke was billowing through the air and students were pulling away from their families, eager to get into the train. Some were waving goodbye through the windows. Parents were lecturing, babies were crying, and the whistle was blowing. Someone rushed by and bumped Maggie on the arm making her lose her group on her trunk so that it went crashing to the floor. Luckily, the clasp stayed firm and the contents did not go everywhere.

Students now were rushing onto the train. Quickly, Maggie threw Emily's trunk down and yanked Chester out of her hands. "So long Mother, see you at Christmas," she said without even looking at her. She didn't hear her mother reply, but perhaps it was just too noisy there.

Then she lifted her trunk with her spare arm and dashed away the quickest she could to get on the train. Once in she looked out the open window to where Emily was receiving kisses from her mother. She was trying to pull away, but she would hardly let go. Maggie scowled.

Suddenly, the train jumped forward and started to chug away. Emily screamed and yanked up her trunk and dashed toward the train, her mother following with the other one. The two of them managed to get them in and Emily jumped in after. "Bye, bye Mummy! I love you!" Their mother waved and waved as the train picked up speed. Finally, they pulled around a corner and Maggie saw the last of her mother she would see in four months.


End file.
